On the other side of the house, Georgie had just gotten home, flopped onto his bed, and was finally starting to relax when he noticed Sheldon sneaking into his room, hiding something behind his back.
"This is my room. If you don't need anything, get out. I'm really not in the mood to argue with you today," Georgie said, sounding pretty drained.
"I've found evidence," Sheldon announced out of nowhere, stopping in the doorway.
"Evidence of what?" Georgie glanced over, already annoyed.
"Evidence that you cheated on your last test…" Sheldon pulled a pair of plain white skate shoes from behind his back.
Even now, you could faintly see math formulas scribbled on the soles in permanent marker.
"So what do you want? You gonna rat me out?" Georgie recognized the shoes right away, but he stayed cool about it.
The game was already over—he couldn't care less about that math grade anymore.
"No, actually the opposite. I'm willing to keep your secret," Sheldon said, tossing the shoes onto the floor like he was opening negotiations. "In exchange, I need you to do something for me."
Hearing that his little brother actually needed his help perked Georgie up a bit. "All right, let's hear it."
"I need you to teach me how to successfully lie to people," Sheldon said, dead serious.
"Lie?" Georgie's face twisted in confusion. "Who are you planning to lie to?"
In Georgie's mind, his super-smart little brother had always been the ultimate goodie-two-shoes. The kid suddenly wanting lessons in deception? That was a shock.
"That's none of your business. You just need to teach me the techniques. I know you're naturally gifted at this," Sheldon replied, glancing down at the shoes every now and then—like a subtle threat.
Georgie smirked. "Nah, I'm not helping unless you tell me why. Go ahead and tell the teacher I cheated—I don't care."
Like he'd thought before, the only reason he cheated on that math test was to stay eligible for football. Now that Melford's summer league was done, some dumb grade didn't matter at all.
On the flip side, he was super curious why Sheldon wanted to learn how to lie. Who knows—this could be ammo he could use against him later.
Sheldon thought it over for a long minute before finally giving in. "Fine, I'll tell you the reason, but you have to swear you won't tell anyone. Otherwise, I'll tell Mom about the dirty magazines you've still got hidden in your room."
"Hey, that's bullshit—the last one got confiscated already," Georgie said, trying to play it calm.
"Really?" Sheldon took a couple steps closer. "I'd bet anything there's still some good stuff under your bed."
"How do you even—have you been in my room? Damn it…" Georgie panicked for a second, then got mad.
Privacy is a big deal for a teenage guy. One wrong move and it could lead to total social death.
"Looks like I was right…" Sheldon hadn't been 100% sure before, but Georgie's reaction pretty much confirmed it.
Once again, Sheldon had outsmarted his big brother with pure brainpower.
"Fine, I swear I won't tell anyone you're trying to learn how to lie. But you've gotta promise not to snitch to Mom about the magazines," Georgie caved—he wasn't about to lose his precious reading material.
Once Sheldon nodded, Georgie went on. "Okay, spill. Why do you wanna learn how to lie?"
"Of course." Now that they had a deal, Sheldon explained.
Ever since that last math test, Sheldon had realized he had a gap in his knowledge.
To fix it, he'd borrowed a full set of twelfth-grade textbooks.
But then a new problem popped up: he didn't have enough free time to study them on his own.
So he set his sights on afternoon PE. He wanted to get excused from chess coaching so he'd have that block free every day.
After thinking about it for ages, the best plan he came up with was faking being sick.
"You're gonna lie… just to get more study time?" Georgie was even more shocked when he heard the reason.
To him, studying was pure torture. The fact that Sheldon would go this far for it? Total weirdo territory.
"Mm-hmm. It's just a white lie," Sheldon admitted without cracking a smile.
In Sheldon's book, if a lie didn't hurt anyone and helped him, it counted as harmless.
"That's what you call a white lie?" Georgie didn't quite get it, but knowing how Sheldon's brain worked, he decided to drop it.
Getting to the point, he continued, "If you wanna pull off a good lie, you've gotta make it believable. Say you wanna fake a limp—give your leg a good whack beforehand. Half-real pain sells it better…"
"You were definitely the right person to ask. You're a natural," Sheldon said, nodding at the idea before adding, "But is there something simpler that doesn't hurt?"
"Sure. Fake a fever. Right before you ask to be excused, go run a few hard laps until you're burning up. It works—I've done it," Georgie said like a pro.
Just hearing the word "run" made Sheldon shake his head—no way.
"Then fake a cold. The night before, chug a bunch of ice water and sit in front of a fan all night. If you wanna be extra sure, hold an ice pack to your forehead the next morning…" Georgie kept dishing out shady tips, then warned, "Of course, you might actually catch a cold if you're not careful."
Sheldon frowned again after hearing that one. "Any other options?"
"Yeah, the easiest: wrap your arm in a sling and say it's dislocated."
"Perfect. Got it…" Sheldon's eyes lit up. He turned and headed out, even politely closing the door behind him.
To Sheldon, faking a dislocated arm was ideal—no real harm to his body, plus it made him look pitiful enough to earn sympathy points.
The only thing he'd have to watch out for was staying away from everyone during afternoon activities so nobody called his bluff.
…
The afternoon flew by. After Mike finally won Karen over, he got home and found the whole Cooper family—plus MeeMaw Connie—hanging out in the living room waiting for him.
"What's going on?" Mike asked.
"Good news," MeeMaw said with a grin. "But let George tell you."
"It's not a huge deal," George said. "I just figured I'd treat everybody to a nice dinner out tonight."
In the past, George would've never splurged like that.
But lately, things had been looking up for the Coopers. First, Mary landed a job—only two hundred bucks a week, but it eased the money stress a little.
Then, because of how well the team did this season, the school was talking about giving George a raise.
Like the saying goes: ninety-nine percent of life's problems can be solved with cash.
With the financial pressure off their backs, the Coopers were finally ready to live a little better.